WOW, first of all, what a year for us comic-book fans!
Marvel Studios kicked things off with Black Panther, an energetic & diverse outing that resonated with not just the black demographic but everyone else as well, to the point where there are little white kids are dressing up as Black Panther & Shuri! Months later, the beginning of the end came in the form of Avengers: Infinity War & left us eagerly waiting for the end of an era to arrive a year later. Deadpool- well, Deadpool’d it up with his sequel, & Ant-Man & The Wasp teamed up for a pretty-fun ride! Venom was heavily flawed, yet watchable(?), Aquaman puts the DCEU afloat once more, & Bumblebee shows that Transformers movies CAN be good.
So, all in all, a pretty good year for comic-book movies. But there was one film in particular that I & many other people resonated with the most, & that is "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse".
Spider-Man has pretty much been my No. 1 Superhero all my life. His relatability, his willingness to get back up after being knocked down numerous times & his amazing powers & costumes always kept me hooked, whether it was comics, tv shows, movies, or video-games (Or cereals, Christmas Albums, & so-so Popsicles!). I’ve been dying to see what an animated movie featuring the character would be like, but knowing previous projects like Lego Batman, we were probably going to get the same treatment with Spider-Man. But what we got, was something else entirely...
Now, in all honesty, when I first saw the teaser trailer for Spider-Verse a year ago, I was both ecstatic & worried at the same time. This movie is by Sony Pictures Animation, the same company that gave us The Emoji Movie a year prior. The f@$%ing Emoji Movie, the same movie that Sony thought would be a good idea to replace Popeye with (Yeah, how’d that work out for you, guys?), but I digress. & their track record with animated properties are hit-or-miss (I guess they mostly miss, huh-)
*cricket noises*
...Sorry.
But, BY ODIN’S BEARD, did this movie surprise me by how excellent it is!
First & foremost, despite the large scope of Into The Spider-Verse featuring multiple Spider-Men, this is a Miles Morales origin story. Introduced in the Ultimate line of Marvel Comics back in 2011 after the death of Peter Parker, Miles (Voiced by Shameik Moore), a half-black, half-latino young teenager, took up the mantle & became the Spider-Man of that universe. In this movie, his origin has a slightly new & interesting take on it, as it’s intertwined within the prospect of different Spider-Men coming from different universes as the result of Kingpin (Voiced by Liev Schrieber) activating a massive machine called “The Collider” for a motive that’s surprisingly personal & sympathetic.
Miles then meets the Spider-Man of his universe (Voiced by Chris Pine), & he’s given a usb that’s the key to stopping Kingpin’s Collider. Unfortunately, the hero dies in action leading to very emotional scenes afterwards. It’s at that point that Miles feels that something needs to be done about Kingpin’s actions, so he meets & trains with a Peter Parker from another universe (Who is voiced by Jake Johnson) & then gets entangled with the girl he met at his new school, who happens to also be a Spider-Hero known as Spider-Gwen (Voiced by Hailee Steinfeld).
This movie knows when to insert its moments of darkness & humor, & it gets quite dark at points for a PG movie! But it also knows how to handle its humor, as it’s done by the geniuses known as Phil Lord & Chris Miller, who serves as the directors of this movie along with Bob Persichetti & Peter Ramsey, a truly valiant team effort.
Spider-Verse is filled to the brim with ambition & style, as it’s unlike any animated feature that you’ve seen before. It Ushers in a unique, comic-booky aesthetic, & it also combines other different animation styles within it to showcase the other Spider-Men’s portrayals. Spider-Noir (Voiced by Nicolas Cage) uses a black-&-white 1930’s coloring. Peni Parker (Voiced by Kimiko Glenn) is anime, & rocking a beastly mech suit named Sp//Dr. & Spider-Ham (Voiced By John Mulaney) goes for a more cartoony, Looney Tune’s style to suit the overall wackiness of his universe. Every character gets a good amount of screentime, even the six villains, yes SIX villains are in the movie, & they each play their part in the plot well!
Stan Lee's cameo, well, it got me good. It got me good...
What also got me was the soundtrack. Because this was mostly a Miles-focused movie, the music had urban/hip-hop vibes. Just take a listen for yourselves some examples:
I'm a huge sucker for animation, so this movie was already on my radar the moment it was first shown. I majored in Media Arts/Animation at The Art Institute of Michigan, so I know quite a lot about the medium. Yes, I said medium, NOT genre. Many people get the two mixed up, & that’s the reason why animated movies aren’t taken too seriously. People think animated always equates to kids, & that’s why I’m kind of sad at the fact that this movie isn’t making that much money. It might break even, but it deserves much more, which is why you should definitely see it for yourself to understand why. I’m on Twitter 24/7, & Spider-Verse is all that people talk about, it’s insane! To say that this movie is excellent would be underselling it. It already has a Golden Globe nomination with 24 other noms & 19 award wins. It is without a doubt the best movie I’ve seen this year, & I’ve seen Infinity War & Black Panther, two game-changing masterpieces in their own right! Spider-Verse just resonated with me so much more as a Spidey fan, we now have more people than ever seeing Miles Morales coming into his own. The messages that the movie gives to the audience are really good ones, such as telling us we're not alone, &...
Anyone can wear the mask. YOU can be Spider-Man.
WOW, to finish off, what a year for us Spider-Man fans!
Things got kicked off with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man making a scene-stealing & heartbreaking appearance in Infinity War. In the comics world, Nick Spencer washes the stench of Dan Slott from Spider-Man continuity & makes the Web-Head great again. Then, Marvel & Insomniac gave us the greatest Spider-Man game of all time, & arguably the greatest superhero game of all time! & to finish it all off, we were blessed with this gem, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, a spectacular love-letter to all Spidey fans, providing an engaging story, lovable characters, unique animation & visuals, & pure fanservice all-around!
This was basically The Year of The Spider. & with Spider-Man: Far From Home on the way along with a sequel to Spider-Man PS4 AND (finally said the actual word lol) a bright future in the comics, things are starting to look up for the webhead. Let’s hope that in 2019 we all can get together & enjoy all of what Marvel or DC has to offer us in the entertainment landscape, because we are a strong community with a love for characters like Superman, Batman, The Avengers, The Justice League, X-Men, Fantastic Four, & yours truly…
It’s what Stan would want out of all of us...
(done by me!)
Happy New Year, Comic BookMovie!